County: Tipperary Site name: LISSAVA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 75:46, 75:47 Licence number: 02E0674
Author: Rose M. Cleary, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Pit, Field system and Road - road/trackway
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 604449m, N 625350m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.379688, -7.934648
A pre-development test excavation was undertaken before a planning submission. The site was near two monuments. One (SMR 75:46) was a large earthwork outside the development property boundary; the other was a castle, which, on architectural features, appeared to be a 15th-century tower-house, but the structure was overgrown. The castle was surrounded by stone walls. A long, single-storey building formed part of the western side of the enclosure, and a second, two-storey building was situated to the south. These represent sequential residential use of the site. The first edition of the OS map indicates that part of the development site was wooded in the mid-1800s.
Excavation of nine trial-trenches uncovered a number of features, including drainage gullies, field-division ditches and a stone spread, which is part of a trackway. These are interpreted as relating largely to agricultural activity and may be early post-medieval to modern in date. Three pits were revealed. Two had modern finds from the surface, suggesting use into at least the 18th or 19th centuries, and the third was of unknown date.
